I am struggling to make a decision on the following and would greatly appreciate your input: I need an HD for my living room/ kitchen.
-It needs to be no wider than 39 3/4" in width build to accommodate my armoire.
-I will be watching at a minimum of 8 feet, although the majority of time it will be 11 plus.
-Off axis viewing should be no more than 4 to 5 feet

With that said, I am considering the old 42" Sammy DLP HL-S4266W. It would fit perfectly in the cabinet, and based on my distances, I don't think the 720p shortcoming would come into play much. One of my concerns might be off-axis viewing. The question is, if people are standing around watching, will it be a problem? The only real off axis opportunity would be vertical.

- Other sets I am considering are the
37" Sharp Aquos
40" Sammy LCD
40" Sony LCD

Any thoughts? Anything else I should consider? I like the price of the sammy DLP right now, the fact that it fits the cabinet perfectly, and since depth of the unit isn't a factor. I'm just wondering if LCD would work better for my purposes.

Any help would be most appreciated. Thanks!

Please.....

Look in the top right hand corner of the board and you will see a section for "search" type in your model numbers for those TV's and you should get some feedback that people give on both.

I did that one a tv I was looking for and it was helpful.

Thanks, yes, I have researched them - they are all good sets. I am just trying to find out which of the models would be ideal for my particular situation.

My husband and I just bought the HL-S4226W less than 2 weeks ago for our bedroom. We have it in an armoire that is just under 40" wide. Fit perfectly.
We are extremely pleased with this set. We watch from about 12 feet. Let me know if you have other questions. I'll do my best to help.
Oh, and we don't have the "black grass" that many of the posters on here have. At least if we do, we don't see it. :)
Good luck!
Lisa

Thanks Lisa. That was my next question (black grass). I have had a Sammy HLN5067 for a couple of years now, and have loved it. I did tweak the SM a ton though. Have you or others made a lot of tweaks? I imagine that these sets look a lot better out of the box than they did then.
Have recent purchasers of this set not had the black grass issue?

Also, how about off axis viewing? Do you notice much difference when standing or laying in bed?

Well, if I stand very far to the side, it gets a little harder to see, but I wouldn't be watching from that standpoint for any length of time.

Out of the box, it was too bright. Everything looked just a little garish, too strong. But not now. I've played around quite a bit with the different menu options for "picture". There is alot of room for individual preferences. Our picture looks very good as it is now, but we have found a very reasonably priced calibrator in our area who is going to do this set as well as our 3 year old Panasonic RPTV. He's coming out here on Sunday and I can post back the results.

I would really recommend this set. But as with any model, some can have problems. Ours hasn't. Also, the sound is very nice, better than I was expecting. Of course, after reading hundreds of posts on the thread for this set, I was second guessing my decision. Like many have said regarding that, most of the ones who post are the tiny percentage of folks who have problems, not the multiple thousands of satisfied customers. And as you know, this forum is brimming with perfectionists.

I think at the price point that this set is going for, you can't find much better.
Lisa

here's a link to a thread I've posted on concerning another model but we veered off a little and started talking about the Samsung:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9956594#post9956594

That's what I'm debating - Will a 1080p display be better for more $?

If you're considering a 1080p, I guess you need to search the forums for that. There's tons of info on them. Too pricey for me and not necessary for my needs.

Ratboy from 11' plus it won't matter what you have from an HD standpoint the human eye is not quite acute enough to enjoy all the benefits from that distance. I sit 13' and the wife at 11' from the screen and we just bought a 70" Sony! We don't have the room for it but for HD material we could have gone bigger, but that would be to much for SD programming. We are a bit close for that screen size on SD anyway, but 65" would have been an ideal compromise, but I have never read anyone on this list say they got TO BIG a TV only it is a little to small and I want something bigger. To bad your set up won't accomodate a 55" set.

We are the same distance as you in our bedroom and that will be the next purchase. It will be Plasma or LCD of at least 52" but we can't fit more than 56". Been looking at the Hitachi 55" 720p Plasma...nice pic...nice price too. Need to get the 70" paid for first though.

yeah, I have a 56" Sammy DLP that I'm about 10' from and I love it. The family room is just the secondary setup - which I shouldn't be so picky about, but of course I am.
The smart decision seems to be the Sammy, I just have the urge to get something different, and perhaps something more advanced for the future.